Behind the scenes

Though the terms "gramophone" and "phonograph" are used nearly interchangeably today to describe a disc-playing machine, in the past they had distinct meanings. "Phonograph" was intended to describe Thomas Edison'scylinder machine, while Emile Berliner's invention using flat discs was trademarked as a "gramophone". British English tends to use "gramophone" to describe a windup disc-playing machine, while American English will use "phonograph" or "Victrola."

Since most modern record players operate on electricity, they are rendered inoperable in the presence of magic like most other electric appliances such as telephones and computers. Witches and wizards presumably use mechanical windup gramophones which require no electricity to amplify sound and rotate the turntable. These play 78 RPM shellac discs and are incapable of playing slower-speed vinyl records. However in the real-world, shellac 78 production largely ceased in the 1960s, being superseded by vinyl. This possibly limits the type of Muggle music available to wizards with gramophones.

Several gramophones were provided for filming by Howard Hope: Gramophones & Phonographs.[9]